The Tea Merchant

Cold-brewed this last night, three teaspoons to 16 oz for about 16 hours in the fridge. It still has that hay quality and it’s a bit sharp and almost smoky up front, but then the aftertaste mellows into a floral honey flavor. It is so much better this way, and I think that’s how I’ll be using it up. Hot it’s just not for me. It’s obvious to me that this is a good one, though, so I’m bumping the rating up a little.

As a side note, does anyone know if leaves that have been cold-steeped can be re-cold-steeped? They haven’t uncurled entirely and they still smell pretty strong (in fact, the resulting tea is much stronger than I expected). I may try it anyway just to see what happens.

Somehow, in all my oolong tasting, I have never tried a Ti Kuan Yin. Considering that a lot of people love TGY and it’s very popular, you’d think I would by now! Luckily when packaging up a swap for Jennkay a few days ago I remembered that I should make a cup.

In the bag this smells, well…grassy. Alarmingly so, actually. However as it steeps it smells less like grass and more like a green oolong I’m familiar with. So far so good.

The taste is different from any other oolong I’ve tried, and while it is good I’m not sure I’m in love with it. The grassy (hay?) smell comes through in the taste, and while it is layered with that smoothness I’m used to it’s much sharper than most oolongs I’ve tried. I can tell it’s good-quality tea but I’m not feeling it right now.

Okay. I have now tried this at work with purified water. It makes a difference for the better. Either that or my mouth is reset from “smoke default” finally. :)

I could smell the peach and the blueberry very strongly and the peach flavor was absolutely noticeable. The jasmine not so much, but that’s okay. Shang’s are still the only whites that I notice having a flavor of their own as a white tea so I still can’t really speak to that. :) The longer this one stays in the pot, the more bitter it gets, though. In a way that kind of defeats the beauty of the flowering tea – having to remove the tea before finishing the pot.

I was going to serve this on each of 3 tables for my mother’s upcoming surprise 65th birthday tea party but I have now discovered a teapot that keeps the flower on the bottom and I only have one of them. And no need to buy 2 more. That’s not saying that I won’t and then try to sell them to guests after the party… :) It is an upside down teardrop shape. It worked really well and it has a strainer in the spout already!!

This is also one of the only flowering teas I’ve had that I can clearly see the separate flowers and the tiny white flowers actually floated out above the pink one. Just lovely!

I’m not sure what to say about this tea. I didn’t expect to notice much tea flavor since it’s a white but I didn’t get any jasmine or peach either. I got smoke. This is what I was talking about the other day when I said everything had smoke in it to me lately. I’m super confused. If anything I have should not have smoke in it, this is it.

My teapot was a clean glass one – never before used in fact, so I’m pretty sure it isn’t any leftover taste. Going to try it again tomorrow at work with filtered water and see if maybe it was my water here at home.

As another note, how do you keep flowering teas on the bottom of the pot like the pictures always show??? Mine always, always, always float to the top and I can’t see the flowers. :( I have 2 small glass pots I use, one is bubble shaped and one is cone shaped. Neither are more than about 4 inches tall.

Sooo… I’m halfway through this package already and no notes! How did that happen?

Not a whole lot to say I guess, other than this is a really good, smooth Assam. Simply excellent and I’m glad I got it with my last order from The Tea Merchant.

This is so good I want to gulp it and drink more as fast as possible! It is taking a lot of self control to just sip this like a normal person. I love this tea so much. I’m using it as my reward tea for making it through another difficult week. It is definitely a Friday tea.

I brewed this gongfu style this afternoon. It was my first time trying this tea, and I was really impressed. It is smooth and flavorful and actually gets more vanilla as I kept steeping it. I did at least 5 infusions, adding time each time. This tea is identical to one of my other favorites, Vanilla Silk Oolong from The Whistling Kettle. I’m inclined to think it is the same tea with a different name being sold by two different companies. This works for me since I live near the Whistling Kettle and can get the tea without shipping costs. I will always have this tea in my cupboard!

I think I may be getting sick, and as such this resteep isn’t nearly as good as I know it can be. This has everything to do with my tastebuds and nothing to do with the tea. I’m not noticing any of the flavorings at all, just the oolong flavor; however, the oolong base is so nice that it’s still a good cup. It’s just not earth-shaking like previous steeps have been.

I packaged some of this up yesterday for the T&C box and realized I was craving a cup of it. Sadly that was late afternoon and I promised myself no caffeine, so it had to wait until this morning.

This smells so good. I’m getting a lot of the lemony notes today, but the caramel is strong and constant in the background. If this ever leaves my cabinet permanently I’ll be devastated, because as of right now I think it’s my number one favorite tea. Between the great flavor and the fact that I’ve managed four cups out of one teaspoon before(!), there’s just no contest between this and anything else.

Somehow this manages to satisfy both my straight oolong and dessert-flavored tea cravings at once. This should not be possible, but this cup is delightfully oolong-y while still having other flavors in there. This is a very lemony cup but the vanilla is a lovely strong aftertaste. Will be resteeping this throughout the day!

ETA: Forgot about this cup (impressive, I know) and let it cool to room temperature. It is incredible cold, and tastes almost like the burnt sugar topping on a crème brûlée. I will have to cold-brew and/or ice this sometime.

Woke up to snow and the announcement that one of my classes today is canceled. That means only one class today!

Anyway, as promised I’m trying more steeps with my leaves from last night. How is this still steeping up well?! It continues to taste like a medium-high grade oolong after a fourth steeping. It’s now a very mellow oolong, like some of the lighter Taiwanese ones I’ve tried. There’s still a light tang of caramel and fruit at the end keeping it interesting. I’m going to keep steeping until it no longer works out, so we’ll have to see how long that is!

Third steep and this one is still going. It’s much milder now, more of a mellow oolong taste, but there’s a definite juiciness at the end. It’s still enjoyable, and I would steep it to this point again.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get any more steeps before bed, but I may try again in the morning.

Second steep. I have found my one true love and its name is Silk Dragon.

This cup is just as flavorful as the first cup(!), with a stronger oolong flavor and a fruiter feeling. It almost reminds me of berries with cream. Less obviously sweet but it still has a lovely aftertaste. I’m going to see how many steeps I can get out of these leaves, because so far every sip has been amazing.

Got my order from The Tea Merchant today! First I’d like to share my wonderful customer service experience: I ordered the Silk Dragon, the Ti Kuan Yin, and the Plum Oolong. When I opened the box I noticed that there was no Plum Oolong. Instead there was Wuyi. When I looked at the invoice there was a handwritten note informing me that since they are sold out and possibly discontinuing the Plum Oolong, I would be receiving a refund as well as a hefty (it’s at least 0.5 oz, I believe, and maybe even more) sample of Wuyi. I admit customer service matters to me even more than product quality in most things, and I am very impressed!

That said, this tea is extremely high quality. The word that comes to mind when attempting to describe it is “gorgeous.” It tastes like drinking caramel (the kind that melts in your mouth) with a slight citrus tang at the end. And yet despite that I can clearly taste the smoothness and earthiness of the oolong underneath. They don’t mask each other or take away from each other. It’s not too sweet or artificial, and the flavors blend into each other seamlessly and beautifully. It also has a wonderful mouthfeel. I can’t quite put it into words but it lingers pleasantly. This is a tea to be sipped and enjoyed slowly. Definitely keeping it in my cabinet forever.

I always manage to drink down teas iced much faster than I drink it hot. I think its because as a rule hot drinks don’t do as much to quench my thirst and are more for enjoyment than anything else. Iced tea is usually what I love to drink with meals.

This was, predictably, great iced. I had it with a few different foods and really it went perfectly with all of them, though it did take a good overnight in the fridge before it reached its full potential. It did end up reminding me of Hawaii and had a very nectar like quality (guava and mango are so sweet that doesn’t surprise me) with a pretty floral scent, which is a plus for me – I prefer to smell flowers, not eat them.

I like this iced for sure. I can’t wait for summer to get here so I am drinking cold tea more, because this will be a must order for me then!

This was a part of the black tea sampler I included with my Tea Merchant order. It’s the last of the four I have to try and since the name alone suggested it would be good iced I went ahead and made one cup hot and have made 1/2 gallon of iced tea my favorite way (boiled then cooled – i.e. a very slow way). I’ve got refried beans on the menu for tonight so I imagine I will be very happy to have this alongside it!

The smell of this dry is amazing! It reminded me so much of my Hawaii vacation last year – I do get mango but I also seemed to smell a lot of guava. This makes me so happy…and reminds me that I should see if there are guava flavored teas out there. I’d love to have some.

Anyway, for the hot cup of tea, I went ahead and got smart and steeped 1 tsp. of leaf at 3:30 seconds rather than the 4 minutes I traditionally do with blacks, since my last two teas from the Tea Merchant have come out a bit bitter with the extra 30 seconds. I am now very optimistic about going back and trying the Assam Gold and English Breakfast again, because less time did take care of all the astringence. I pretty much got a richly textured cup of tea flavored mango/guava juice. Which is to say, awesomeness.

A bit of sugar really made this pop even more which means I’m looking forward to being able to have this iced later today. It is pretty amazing hot and as the cup cooled it got even better so I have a feeling I will want this around when the weather hots up.

I’ll write another tasting note on the iced method tonight but I’m pretty optimistic at this point that come summer I’ll have this in hand most days!

45 teas in my cupboard with this sipdown, guys!

I haven’t seen a number this low in a while and it is INVIGORATING! My cupboard is so clean! There are even more teas that are close to a sipdown. I don’t even know myself anymore.

This is a solid breakfast tea, even though I’m drinking it at 1 AM. My body doesn’t really notice caffeine so it doesn’t matter when I drink my black teas. Tonight’s cup is without additives and distinctly reminiscent of a Ceylon – bright and surprisingly not as astringent as I’ve alluded to in my past tasting notes. I make iced tea A LOT in the summer and do so by bringing water to a boil, adding the leaves and then cooling it down – and right now – this scent from this cup – is exactly what I’d smell when it was freshly brewed. Vaguely malty and citrusy, almost like bits of sunshine trapped in a liquid.

Ceylons make me so happy.

Based on my experience with this tea right now, I would definitely recommend. I have my favorite breakfast tea from Upton, but if you like Ceylons and you need a good breakfast tea that is strong and bright – this is your blend.

Absolutely hits the spot tonight.

This still needed a bit of sugar even at the slightly reduced steeping time. Still a bit astringent, so I imagine next time I’ll go down another 30 seconds and see what happens.

It’s a good breakfast tea, but not as wonderful as the East Frisian that I consider my staple.

Backlog from a few days ago, at breakfast.

I’m not sure why I’m so sporadic with my tealog lately – some teas I’ll update as soon as I have them, and then others I’ll just…wait a day or so before posting. I even store the little details in my head because it’s just like opening the tasting note box at that moment takes so. much. effort. compared to just storing it in my head.

It makes so much sense, I know.

Maybe it’s just that as far as English Breakfast teas go, this was good, but not “100” good and worth shouting about? Because it IS good – a nice organic black tea that is strong and brisk and bright all at the same time – but it is not the best of its kind I’ve ever had. Especially at the 4 minute mark, where some bitterness starts to creep in as it cools and necessitates some sugar.

I’m thinking 3:30 will work as a steep time when I get around to this one again… same as when I retry the Assam Gold. Less time than I traditionally steep my black teas for, but perhaps that just means I’ll get more mileage out of them in resteeps? I will test that theory when I get around to it again.

As for rating this preparation, I will consider it a solid option, just not my first choice for a breakfast tea.

SIPDOWN!

Made this iced and sweetened (with my traditional 1/4 c. sugar to 1/2 gallon ratio) and enjoyed it over a few days. I do believe that there was a scoop or two of the English Breakfast from the Tea Merchant in this as well since I didn’t quite have enough leaf to do a half gallon of this on its own.

It was a great, brisk black tea option. I tried one cup with some lemon but that brought out a lot of the astringence so I didn’t do it again. But it was really refreshing and had a slightly cleaner, brighter taste than a CTC tea bag. Yay for iced tea season!

The smelled so malty and raisiny. More than anything it was raisiny, though – I’ve never smelled that much of a fruity note in a black tea before, unless it was flavored.

My note for this mentioned how astringent it got even after 3:30, so I reduced the steep time to 3 minutes even and…its still pretty rough around the edges. That beautiful raisined and fruity note is nowhere to be found, and without a good helping of creamer this would be impossible for me to drink. It’s a breakfast tea and so that’s fine, but I wish I could have the option of having it plain, you know?

Oh well, it is still brisk enough to get me moving this morning. And I can always reduce the steep time even more to see if that makes for a less astringent tea. I’ll go for 2:30 next time and see what happens.

Tea of the morning earlier today.

Malty assam, you are so perfect for the morning. I always just melt over the smell of freshly brewed black breakfast teas, and this was no exception. While steeping I went for about 30 seconds less than I normally do for a black tea just to try and have this without additives. I really just wanted nothing but bold black tea this morning.

I could have actually gone about 30 seconds lighter, even, as this was still a bit astringent. It certainly was bold and earthy and chewy and all things a good black tea should be though. I’m sure sugar would have smoothed out the rough edges but for some reason it being all the way across the kitchen just seemed too far to go, haha.

Eh, I have plenty of this to give it another go with a bit lighter hand on the steeping. With the way I’ve been drinking pure black teas lately, I’m sure I’ll be revisiting it sooner rather than later.

Sooo close to a sipdown. Just one more cup that the boyfriend will likely finish as he likes it too.

Ugh, I can’t believe that this was really the only tea I had during Atlanta’s Frozen Fiasco of 2014. In my defense, I wasn’t really home all that much – duty calls regardless of the weather (and inadequate highway infrastructure) when you’re a nurse. Eh. It’s done now.

I have one more day of work tonight and then I’ve got a few days off to catch up on school and tea drinking. I sooooo can’t wait!

I keep having this, most likely because it’s just sitting by my Breville and the easy choice in the morning. This is not a bad thing. :)

I just had this with a spot of milk this morning (no sweetener) and it was still creamy vanilla with a bit more citrus of the bergamot. I guess sugar drowned out the citrus?

Anyway, there really is no way to mess this up. Its good whatever way you make it. All teas should be like that…

First, a story:

I had gone out with friends to breakfast last week and ordered hot tea (earl grey – I don’t know the brand) and was surprised, in a good way, when they brought it out to me loose in the equivalent of a Perfect Tea Maker from Teavana. Not as surprised as the other girls, though – they had never seen one before. They stared at the steeper and their eyes got even bigger and all conversation stopped when I put it on top of my cup to let it drain.

“I’ve never seen that before.” One of them said. “Where’s the tea bag?” was another question. There was much turning over of the plastic steeper to see how it worked. Then the waiter came by and refilled it to let it resteep. All of their minds, collectively, were blown. All for a cup of pretty mediocre Earl Grey.

Okay, digressing to actual review now:

When the girls at the breakfast asked how I liked the tea I shrugged my shoulders and thought of Smooth Earl from Compass Teas before telling them I prefer it with vanilla (tea snob that I am). That was before I met this guy though.

A sure sign of a good tea to me is one that I can’t stop thinking about or want to have again soon after I’ve had it. For the sake of having a lot of other teas to drink I avoided coming back to this one right away, but it has been in the back of my mind.

So yesterday to celebrate having almost a week off from work I made a huge mug of this and savored that thick vanilla scent and taste. So lovely. I wish when I’d been at the breakfast last week I’d been able to show everyone this Earl Grey Cream. This is what amazing tea is.

A lot of you already know that, judging by the other tasting notes here, but really. Its finding teas like this that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise that makes the whole tea habit so much fun. For me it is, anyway….